Crowds of frustrated people greeted Lt. Col. Karl D. Jansen, new commander of the Army Corp of Engineers’ Buffalo District, on his tour Wednesday of flood-prone areas in both Findlay and Ottawa.
While Jansen spent much of the tour talking with officials, he was polite and patient as people clamored for his attention. Most had a litany of complaints about the corps and the Blanchard River flood-control plan.
Jansen is promising better communications and cooperation from the corps under his leadership. He called the Blanchard River flood study “priority number one” for the Buffalo District. He said the study is on schedule to be finished by March 2016, and the corps is working to push that timeline ahead by at least 90 days.
“We serve you,” Jansen told a crowd of about 50 people who gathered on the I-9 bridge near Ottawa to listen to the corps’ plans for the lower Blanchard River. Several people complained about a lack of cooperation between the corps and local leadership.